It was a sobering defeat on Saturday, as we were thoroughly outplayed by a weakened Liverpool team.
Supporters hoped that we would be able to give the Reds a good game and potentially impact their title challenge. On the day, the quality difference was obvious and we never came close to scoring.
Of course, Liverpool will be a lot better than us at the moment, as we are at a very early stage of our journey under the new ownership. However, the difference between the teams will focus minds ahead of the summer.
Below, we discuss three interesting stats from the game.
Four shots, none from inside the penalty area, 0.2 expected goals
The big issue on Saturday was shot generation, as we failed to threaten Alisson Becker’s goal frequently enough. The attackers were frequently caught offside and were too frenetic in their decision making in the final third.
It can be difficult against Liverpool, due to their intensity. Opposition players don’t get much time on the ball. However, we carried a much bigger threat at Anfield.
We only had four shots all from outside the penalty area. They accounted for just 0.2 expected goals.
Eddie Howe will have watched on and realised that this is a huge area for improvement over the summer. We aren’t as good as Liverpool, but we need to be giving them a much firmer test.
Matt Targett – 5 tackles and 3 interceptions
Another week and another promising performance from Matt Targett. He dealt with the Liverpool attackers well and offered aggression out of possession.
No player made more than his five tackles during the game for us. He was regularly trying to win the ball back and didn’t seem daunted by the opposition.
It is becoming very difficult to make a case against signing him in the summer. Targett is a very good Premier League left back and he seems to be thriving under the pressure on Tyneside.
Joe Willock – 21 pressures
For any doubters, Saturday showed why Joe Willock has a great future under Eddie Howe. He was relentless without the ball and made more pressures than any other Newcastle player with 21.
This is impressive considering he only played for the first 66 minutes. The only players that made more during the game were Naby Keita (26), Digo Jota (25) and James Milner (23). All played more minutes than Willock.
Willock was a surprise inclusion in the team, but his work rate is the reason why he is important in matches like this one.
